Tag: Consumer Insights

Singapore – Carousell Media Group (CMG) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau Southeast Asia and India (IAB SEA+India) have released a new report showing a digital disruption spurred on by the migration of users from offline to online with the new stay-at-home paradigm.

The IAB SEA+India surveyed more than 61,500 respondents who use CMG recommerce platforms in Singapore (carousell.sg), Hong Kong (carousell.com.hk), Vietnam (chotot.com), Malaysia (mudah.my) and the Philippines (carousell.ph).

This year’s regional research establishes the audience profile in each market, explores income, investing and spending habits, how respondents spend time online, streaming services to which they subscribe, their food and grocery shopping habits including use of meal delivery platforms, future purchasing plans, what influences their spending, and how and why they are shopping sustainably.

Regional CEO of IAB SEA+India, Miranda Dimopoulos, says there has been a seismic shift to online led by the Southeast Asia and Hong Kong regions, and on a scale never before seen.

“We’re seeing everything from mundane daily tasks to health and self development being enabled from your mobile device. We also see that CMG’s hyper-engaged audiences are prioritising sustainable shopping to protect the planet,” said Dimopoulos.

JJ Eastwood, managing director, Carousell Media Group, said, “It is also gratifying to see that our Carousell Group marketplaces are now synonymous with sustainability and social ethics, and we have seen a quantum increase in usage of our recommerce marketing platforms over the past two years.”

Eastwood further mentioned that this year’s survey builds upon research from last year, in partnership again with the IAB SEA+India, into Millennials and Sustainable Purchasing. “This year we drilled deeper into respondents’ financial habits which reveals that the largest spending category, both current and future, is local and international travel,” added Eastwood.

Commenting on the regional findings, Eastwood said, “We see a significant swing towards shopping sustainably to mitigate climate change and protect the environment, rather than purely to save money.” According to Eastwood, consumers are prepared to pay more for sustainably sourced or produced food and products.

Singapore – Consumer data and analytics company Milieu Insight released the findings of its ‘Sustainable Beauty’ study, which aimed to find out their opinions of sustainability claims, and how receptive beauty product shoppers in Southeast Asia are towards sustainable beauty products in light of World Environment Day coming up on 5 June. 

The survey aims to find out opinions of sustainability claims, and how receptive beauty product shoppers in Southeast Asia are towards sustainable beauty products as the market of environmentally-conscious shoppers grow within the region.

New beauty brands have emerged in recent years to cater to a growing market of consumers – environmentally-conscious shoppers who are looking for beauty products that are good for them, and good for the Earth. Even large industry players are hopping onto the bandwagon, introducing sustainable products or product packaging and aggressively marketing them to be so.

The survey has shown that the majority of Southeast Asians are receptive towards sustainable beauty products, Singaporeans least so. Through a series of questions that asked Southeast Asian consumers about the likelihood of choosing a more sustainable option, they are generally receptive towards them with 93 per cent of respondents being very/somewhat likely to choose a chemical and toxic-free beauty product over one that is not. 

Meanwhile, 87 per cent are very/somewhat likely to choose products with 100 per cent recyclable packaging. Moreover, 84 per cent of the consumers are very/somewhat likely to choose cruelty-free products, especially Filipino consumers with 90 per cent votes on the category. 

The report also noted that 83 per cent are very/somewhat likely to swap to a refillable option if it’s available, while 73 percent are very/somewhat likely to try a water-less beauty product (eg. shampoo bar, bar soaps), versus conventional bottled products (eg. liquid shampoo and soap) 

Consumers are willing to pay more for sustainability, but affordability remains the most important. Affordability emerged as the top consideration in purchasing beauty products with 78 per cent., while 81 per cent of the consumers said that while they are willing to pay more for sustainable/ clean/ ethical beauty products, prices still have to stay within the comfortable range for consumers.

The report also found that consumers don’t blindly trust sustainability claims. About 67 per cent of respondents indicated that they ‘research more about the claims on my beauty products’ packaging to know if it’s really sustainable/ clean/ ethical’, especially consumers from the Philippines with 83 per cent and Malaysia with 72 per cent. 

Most agree that there should be more regulations to ensure that beauty products’ claims about being sustainable/ clean/ ethical are well-substantiated with evidence.” (88 per cent agreed that companies themselves also have to be transparent and clear in their communication of their products’ sustainability, well-substantiated with evidence. In addition, 86 per cent of the respondents agreed that ‘More should be done by companies to communicate to customers how their beauty products are sustainable/ clean/ ethical.’

India – The Indian video market grew 37% in the past year and stood now at U$S3.8 billion, according to the Future of Video India virtual conference organised by Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) in April 2022. 

Mihir Shah, VP of Media Partners Asia in India, one of the keynote speakers, opened the conference with an outlook on India’s video market, which showed a sharp rebound in the TV advertising market, after a depressed 2020. According to Shah, with a total video market worth US$12 billion and growing at 9% CAGR in the next 5 years to US$20 billion, the AVOD market was also predicted to remain buoyant and triple in the next five years, with SVOD tripling as well. 

Manoj Gurnani, CTO & head of strategy for India, Nokia, also one of the keynote speakers at the conference, shared that a new generation of technology was going to bring more capabilities and more efficiencies. With 5G bringing on fixed wireless capabilities, it was going to be a great enabler, which would lead to the enhancement of the quality of experience. 

Avinash Kaul, CEO, Network18, managing director, A+E Networks TV18 summed up the optimism for the industry in his closing keynote and said, “The future of video has always been bright and will continue to shine brighter and brighter.” With the online video ecosystem having opened up, funding and content had also poured in, with money coming into the ecosystem from all sources.”

Kaul added that having opened up the online video ecosystem, funding and content had also poured in. With greater investment in technology and data, content was also getting shaped because of analytics and there was also a new future for data driven companies to tap into funding.

Jakarta, Indonesia – The large majority of consumers are willing to pay a higher price for eco-labelled products, even if they are 50% higher than their old brand choices, according to data from market research company YouGov.

With the exception of gaming-related products, Indonesian consumers are willing to accept more than 80% higher prices for eco-labelled food items such as milk, rice, coffee, and tea, compared to other product categories. In contrast, at least one-fifth of consumers who would pay more for eco-labelled fashion and personal care products such as cosmetics and skincare, as well as clothing items, bath soap, oral care, footwear are only willing to accept higher prices of 10% or less.

When asked about food related items, around one-third of consumers are open to switching the brand of rice (34% of respondents), coffee/tea (33% of respondents) and milk (33% of respondents) they currently purchase in order to buy an eco-labelled one. While slightly more are willing to pay more for eco-labelled rice (35% of respondents), slightly less would be for coffee/tea (30% of respondents) and milk (30% of respondents).

Meanwhile, when asked about household appliances and furniture products, more than one-quarter are open to switching their current brand of home furniture (29%) in order to buy an eco-labelled one, while just under a quarter (24%) are willing to pay more.

Lastly, one-quarter of consumers (25%) are open to switching the brands of smartphones they currently purchase to buy an eco-labelled one, while slightly more (27%) are willing to pay a higher price for greener smartphones. But less than one in seven consumers would consider switching brands and paying more for eco-labelled cars (14%) and gaming consoles (5% to 6%).

Hong Kong – A vast majority of international buyers in the ASEAN market – 93% – have used online sourcing platforms since the pandemic began, with more than 85% attending virtual fairs to meet their sourcing needs, according to a study conducted by Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), a statutory body. Despite this, the study noted that 63% of most buyers surveyed said they would prefer to source via physical fairs or hybrid fairs which consists of 59% of buyers once travel restrictions are lifted.

For those that prefer sourcing online, the study found the top reasons to be 70% preference for searching for new suppliers and making enquiries (70%), wanting to compare products and prices (66%), and opting to identify the latest product trends (57%).

“In the wake of the pandemic, many industries are committed to organising virtual fairs to strengthen the connection between international buyers and suppliers. These events have been well received by the industry, with the survey showing that more than 85% of buyers surveyed had participated in virtual fairs in 2021,” commented HKTDC Director of Research Irina Fan. 

The survey also showed that buyers who prefer hybrid fairs were more likely to register a higher average spend per order (in the range of US$50,000-$100,000+) compared with counterparts who prefer physical or virtual fairs. This suggests that hybrid fairs could be well-positioned to facilitate more lucrative business opportunities.

Fan said,”The survey reflects that more buyers have been choosing to purchase online due to the pandemic. However, this makes it difficult to perform tasks such as product examination and evaluation as well as supplier authentication. We believe that physical fairs and hybrid fairs are the future, with the two complementing each other.”

Hong Kong — Viu has been named the number one premium video on demand platform in terms of the number of Monthly Average Users (MAUs) in the Greater Southeast Asia region according to Media Partners Asia’s consumer insights division –AMPD. Viu is the OTT video streaming service of Hong Kong-based information tech company Pacific Century CyberWorks.

The report revealed that Viu’s MAUs are once again ahead of other major streaming platforms in Greater Southeast Asia and continued to be the highest for all quarters of 2021. The platform also ranked second in both paid subscribers and premium video streaming minutes amongst major video streaming platforms in the region in quarter four of 2021.

Helen Sou, chief business officer of Viu Asia, said that Viu’s consistent performance in a very competitive region, coupled with its significant growth in monetization in 2021, firmly entrenched Viu as a leading player in this part of the world.

“Our content has clearly resonated with our Asian audience, and our freemium business model has consistently proven popular with both consumers and ecosystem partners. As the destination of premium Asian content, we will continue to invest in stories that are relevant, from both our expanding content partnerships as well as with Viu Original productions,” Sou said.

Compared to 2020, the top 10 Viu Original titles showed stellar growth of over 94 per cent in video views and an exponential increase of over 200 per cent in video minutes. This helped drive subscriptions by 58 per cent from 5.3 million in 2020 to 8.4 million in 2021.

Singapore — Almost three out of four shoppers, or 73 per cent, now consider shopping online to be integral to everyday life, with 67 per cent of them identifying e-commerce mega campaigns as a key factor in shaping their consumer buying behaviour. Furthermore, nearly 60 per cent of consumers also welcomed online shopping as a part of their daily life less than two years ago – possibly owing to the pandemic. These are the results of a recent report by SEA e-commerce platform Lazada in collaboration with Milieu Insights.

Regional findings note that consumers continue to actively participate during Mega Campaigns such as Lazada 12.12, with 67 per cent of the digital consumers completing a purchase during a Mega Campaign.

Additionally, the report unveiled key reasons Southeast Asians shop, which is a number of motivations such as pricing and functionality. Low prices (45%), and affordable shipping (45%) topped the list followed closely by the ease of search (43%) and convenience (43%). Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines show a strong preference for the items to be delivered straight to them, with 55 per cent, 48 per cent, and 49 per cent, respectively.

Reviews and ratings are also key to a positive shopping experience, especially for online shoppers in Singapore (61%), and Thailand (66%). In regards to reviews, the study uncovered that one in two shoppers, or 54 per cent, said reviews make the shopping experience positive. In addition, half, or 50 per cent of those surveyed said they leave reviews on the product post-purchase, and one in three, or 32 per cent, said the reviews are one of the top 3 reasons why they prefer to buy online. This shows that the culture of shopper engagement by leaving authentic reviews helps build trust and has a significant influence on the final purchase behaviour of shoppers.

James Chang, chief business officer of Lazada Group, shared that digital commerce has changed the way people shop in the past decade, especially in the last two years with the pandemic accelerating the shift towards online retail.

He added: “Such changes are showing a lasting effect, especially in emerging markets. This first region-wide Lazada Consumer Study shows that Mega Campaigns, pioneered by Lazada in Southeast Asia a few years ago, still matter to the consumer. They look forward to the deals and shoppertainment features that come with each campaign.”

Gerald Ang, chief executive officer of Milieu Insight, commented that the online shopping landscape has evolved massively in the last two years with Southeast Asia leading this change globally.

“This is why we wanted to identify the new behaviours and current sentiments of online shoppers in Southeast Asia. On the back of this partnership with Lazada, we’ve gathered fundamental data across their 6 regional markets, helping them understand the intricacies of each. As Lazada continues to shape the thriving modern-day e-commerce economy, these insights are meant to equip them in formulating the most effective consumer outreach strategies in the current environment,” Ang said.

Paris, France — Ipsos has announced the launch of its new online market research platform Ipsos.Digital in key markets across the Asia Pacific. The company said the launch is part of its ongoing vision in delivering fast, high-quality data while simultaneously bringing the best of science, technology, and know-how to its clients.

The intuitive, self-service, end-to-end platform offers clients efficient access to Ipsos’s global research capabilities and insights. It provides access to Ipsos’ fully integrated online panels of consumers.

Ipsos has developed this proprietary platform to seamlessly provide clients with innovative technology and efficient professional expertise, providing as-needed access to its expert teams across the world.

The Ipsos.Digital platform contains a range of solutions such as FastFacts, its DIY research tool allowing users to build their own surveys. Clients can choose from more than 700 pre-defined category targets or create their own bespoke definitions. Other solutions include two Ipsos flagship tools: InnoTest, an innovation testing tool, Creative|Spark, and Creative|Spark Digital – a 24-hour turnaround creative assessment tool.

Commenting on the implications of the launch in a new market, Yang Kil, chief growth officer of Ipsos for Asia Pacific, said that Ipsos.Digital is a revolutionary step for them, with real-time, self-serve consumer research. Kil added that clients need to make faster decisions than ever to cope with rapid changes in consumer behaviour and Ipsos.Digital answers these needs.

“Its fast turnaround time, from set-up to delivery, ensures high data quality. It reflects our commitment to outstanding research quality and turning data into actionable insights. In an ever-growing DIY market, we bring a unique alternative that combines technology with state-of-the-art knowledge and applies our principles of ‘security, simplicity, speed and substance’,” Kil said.

Ipsos. Digital’s main benefits are its speed with the ability to access research responses within 24 hours; simplicity of use with DIY functions and the ability to access a research expert at any stage; security with time efficiencies without compromising quality, and substance of being able to design bespoke surveys or a specialised Ipsos solution.

Andrei Postoaca, CEO of Ipsos.Digital, commented, “The digitalisation of market research, like that of most industries, has risen significantly over the last few years. The global pandemic has accelerated this trend, making the ambitious vision of the democratisation of market research a reality. We are delighted to launch our digital platform in Asia, the power of Ipsos.Digital is its ability to streamline processes and enable clients to access insights in hours rather than days or weeks. Platform users can work on their own or obtain assistance from relevant Ipsos experts around the world.”

In February, JCDecaux partnered with research firm IPSOS to launch a customer feedback program called ‘JCDecaux VOICE’.

Singapore – ServiceNow, a business workflow solution, and experience management provider Qualtrics have unveiled new joint capabilities that aim to help companies deliver personalized service experiences. Combining ServiceNow’s digital workflows with Qualtrics’ experience management technology, the new capabilities will help organizations harness and act on customer and employee experience data on the Now Platform in real time, to quickly resolve issues and improve engagement, loyalty, and retention. 

The Now Platform is ServiceNow’s flagship product which includes core capabilities, such as configuration management database, service level management, and machine learning, that help companies to quickly and efficiently digitize workflows. 

Organizations can now access additional customer experience data from Qualtrics on the Now Platform via the Qualtrics CustomerXM™ and ServiceNow Customer Service Management integration. The data help service teams to create personalized workflows and automate support experiences, increasing loyalty and spend and to reduce operational costs. 

The partnership aims to solve organizations’ pain points that still struggle with siloed systems and disconnected customer insights which hamper their ability to design and deliver the experiences customers want. According to research from the two parties, 80% of respondents have switched brands because of poor customer experience, and it being the number one reason why.

“What it means to truly know your customer has changed. Organizations need to deliver empathy at mass scale in every interaction to retain customers and drive growth in 2022,” said Michael Ramsey, VP for customer workflow products at ServiceNow. 

“Access to rich customer insights allows agents to respond to individual needs and powers digital workflows that drive great experiences, customer loyalty, and empathy,” adds Ramsey. 

Meanwhile, Jay Choi, chief product officer at Qualtrics, commented that great experiences are the currency of modern business, where the experiences that companies deliver today can become their greatest competitive advantage moving forward. 

“Companies who understand and act on experience data – the feedback that employees and customers share with them – to deliver incredible service experiences will successfully build long-term, meaningful relationships,” said Choi.

The new capabilities are now available on the ServiceNow Store and the Qualtrics Marketplace. Qualtrics said that the partnership will be rolling out additional integrated capabilities in 2022, targeted at helping teams visualize sentiment and profile data directly on the Now Platform, giving agents and frontline teams a more holistic view of the customer and employee. 

Singapore – Global trend forecasting WGSN has announced the launch of their latest consumer tech vertical aptly called the ‘WGSN Consumer Tech’ which will aid brands in Asia in providing specialized vertical insights from up-to-the-minute movements to 10-year forecasts of the consumer tech scene in the region.

Said vertical is led by Lisa Yong, content director for consumer tech at WGSN, who has 20 years experience in product design and is currently based in Silicon Valley.

With a focus on product experience and driven by technology’s ever-growing presence, WGSN Consumer Tech will help brands, product designers, manufacturers and business owners to innovate with purpose and create meaningful consumer-first products and experiences.

For Yong, the observable breakneck speed at which Asian consumers are adopting new technologies has only been accelerated by the global pandemic and active programs by regional governments to digitize their economies, adding that the next 10 years will see technology transform or disrupt almost all industries, changing the way of live, work, play and move in the new reality.

“As technology continues to permeate all aspects of our lives, it’s vital for companies to understand new behaviors and expectations in tech consumerism, and develop the right products that consumers will want and need for years to come. WGSN Consumer Tech works across industries to outline the shifts that can be actioned today and built on tomorrow,” she stated.

As part of the launch of their consumer tech vertical, WGSN has also published its first flagship report entitled ‘Future of Consumer Tech 2030’, providing actionable insights to help tech businesses adapt and make the most out of the systemic changes affecting the post-pandemic world. 

Key insights in the report include the rise of the augmented self, an increased focus on regeneration and survival, and a post-pandemic focus on wellness that will accelerate consumer adoption of health-tech.

“WGSN Consumer Tech offers specialized insights into evolving consumer tech trends, from up-to-the-minute movements to 10-year forecasts, on one platform. With a talent map of over 250 people around the world, WGSN provides global trend insights and expertly curated data. We empower clients to develop products and services today, for tomorrow’s world,” said Carla Buzasi, president and CEO at WGSN.